


A Man Needs his Hobbies

by fivefootnothing



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-11-08
Updated: 2008-11-08
Packaged: 2017-10-02 21:29:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivefootnothing/pseuds/fivefootnothing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Model trains and companions don't necessarily mix.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Man Needs his Hobbies

"Now, Doctor? My wrist feels like I've been stirring for hours." Peri tilted the vial towards the center of the table, allowing the Doctor a look at the contents.

He peered over the top of his wire-framed specs. "A bit more of the yellow, I think," he said, tapping the handle end of his small paintbrush on the lid of the right jar. "The shade still needs quite a bit of brightening. Now it's less GWR Green and more Brunswick Green. That color would serve grandly, had I wanted to piece together a model racing car and not a model locomotive."

"Are you sure we can't just buy this color at some hobby store somewhere? I mean, we haven't been back to Earth in a while."

"Peri," the Doctor pleaded, eyes shutting and head tilting back briefly. "You did ask if you wished to help, didn't you? If you're unsatisfied with your task...?"

"No," she answered quickly. "No, of course not. It's just, model railroads? Really, Doctor? The whole of time and space at your fingertips and you play with toy trains?"

"It's a hobby of scale and precision," he breathed, dipping the very tip of his brush into the tiny vial of gray paint and taking up only the faintest traces of color. He gazed intently through the lenses of his glasses at the perfect scale replica of a GWR 0-4-2T Class 14, a steam-powered locomotive commonly found on the railways of England in the late 1930s.

"One needs a keen eye and a steady hand," he explained, dotting the side of the engine with little specks representing the rivets holding the vehicle together. "It requires the utmost..."

The door to the Doctor's workshop burst open, revealing a very out-of-breath Erimem.

"...delicacy," finished the Doctor, after the sudden noise caused his hand to flinch.

"Doctor? Peri?" Erimem noted the withering look the Doctor gave her. "What's wrong?"

"Not a thing," he replied, much too quickly and much too loudly. "What is it, Erimem?"

"I've upset you, Doctor. I'm sorry."

"You've nothing to apologize for," he said in the same blaring tone, desperately trying to ignore the jagged stroke of gray paint snaking up the side of his train.

"But Doctor," Peri said. "That line. Can't you wipe it off before it dries?"

"Best to just allow it to set, then paint over it," he said, resigned. "Attempting to clear it off now would only cause it to smear, producing an even worse eyesore than it has now. Now Erimem, what's wrong?"

"What's that?" Erimem asked abruptly, pointing to the Doctor's face.

"What's what?"

"That! In front of your eyes."

"My glasses?"

"Why do you wear glass on your face?"

He slammed his hands on the table and stood up straightaway, visibly bristling at the question. "Slight astigmatism! Now what _is_ it, Erimem?"

"Anternak is missing."

"Ah." He glanced over at Peri, his irritation waning. "Well, we ought to start searching for him, then. Three pairs of eyes are much more efficient than just the one. It's a big TARDIS, but he can't have got far."

He gestured for Erimem to leave the room first but hung behind, his hands lifting the model train up to his bespectacled eyes. The damage done to the side was hideous, but luckily repairable. "I hope I'll never do that again," he sighed.

Peri rested her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Maybe you should think about adding a lock to the workshop door."


End file.
